Friday, February 6, 2009

Picking and Choosing

As continue working out the kinks in this whole blogging thing I started wondering how will I choose which books I review on the site? I want to keep it current, because I can't give a rightful review to books I may have read years ago. Then I thought about how I choose the books I read anyways. Sometimes I do get sucked into the best-seller Harry Potter/Twlight-esqe type of books. I've been known to read more Nora Roberts book then I'd care to admit.

Obviously I don't have the luxury of free novels being sent my way all the time, so price is unfortunately another deciding factor. Last year, I re-discovered the library so to speak. In college, I didn't really have time to read novels of my own choosing, so the library was used solely for research purposes. But after wasting countless dollars at Barnes and Nobles I got my new library card when I moved to D.C. How was I to choose from the limited selection of books the library had to offer? I remember the search feature at my library was able to show me books that had received certain awards, and I decided to check out some books from Oprah's Book Club winning books. I cant recall the name of the book now, but I couldn't get through the first few chapters, it just didn't catch my interest.

So my next trip to the library, I decided I was just going to peruse the titles and choose something randomly. I ended up picking out a book called The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. Little did that a few months later the movie-version of the book would be out in theatres and garnering Oscar nominations. Ironically, as I found out after the fact, The Reader was also part of Oprah's Book Club.

To be honest, I was a little shocked after I read this book, maybe because I had no outside influences or reviews to bias my view, but I wasn't expecting everything that occurred. The book is about the affair a young German boy has with an older woman, who he learns later in life is on trial for Nazi war-related crimes. The book made me question morality, secrets and the many different types of love that can exist between people. I remember describing the book as "depressing" after I read it, but in looking back on it, months later, I realize the book definitely made a lasting impact on me, despite the overall depressing theme. In fact, after seeing the movie, I actually had a better appreciation for the book, which rarely tends to happen.

That wasn't supposed to be a review of the book, got a little off topic! What I'm trying to say is that, I don't really have a rhyme or reason for the books I might review here. I kind of like the randomness of pulling an unknown book of a library shelf, but who knows. Please feel free to suggest some.